The dad of a 13-week-old baby whose mother is accused of causing his death attempted to flee the witness box at the High Court in Aberdeen as he was quizzed about his own involvement in drugs.
Amy Beck is on trial facing charges that allege she exposed her infant son Olly-James to the party drugs mephedrone (M-cat) and MDMA, resulting in them entering his bloodstream prior to his death.
The 32-year-old is also accused of wilfully neglecting two other children who were found with drugs in their system.
Beck additionally faces one charge of dealing M-cat and a further charge of having cocaine in her possession.
She denies all the charges against her.
‘I canna dae this’
On the fourth day of the trial, Kieran Sievwright – father of Olly-James – ran from the courtroom after he was confronted with evidence of his drug taking.
Sievwright, 25, had denied ever having taken drugs only moments before.
Advocate depute Erin Campbell showed Sievwright a social media video of him snorting a line of white powder, which included banners that stated: “Mandy, ket and kat” and “Late Night Adventures”.
Ms Campbell then pressed Sievwright on where he got the drugs in the video from when he exclaimed “I canna dae this” and bolted from the courtroom.
After he was returned to the courtroom by police around 10 minutes later, Ms Campbell warned Sievwright about answering truthfully before he made several admissions that Amy Beck had provided him with the drugs.
She asked him to confirm if drugs were “floating about the environment” of the house he shared with Beck.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Sievwright replied.
Ms Campbell said: “They were being used in the house – on surfaces, on boards, on DVDs, yes? So, with that in mind, do you know how the children might have got the drugs into their systems?”
“Amy,” he replied.
Jurors also heard evidence from Sergeant Frank McDermott who read out a police statement provided by Steven Leadingham, now deceased, who claimed it was “well known around the Broch” that Beck was a drug dealer.
Mr Leadingham stated that he sourced M-cat from Beck “every weekend”.
“I had started sourcing drugs from Amy a few years back – she was my regular dealer,” he said.
“I would go to her house to collect it. I would generally pay her £100 for four grams of M-Cat and knew it wasn’t being cut up with other stuff.”
Jurors saw evidence of drug dealing
Earlier in the trial, Beck’s former friend Olivia Guntrip told the court that on the night Olly-James died Beck had arrived at a property she was at to supply someone with M-cat.
In her initial statement to police, Beck denied leaving her home but was forced to retract it after she was confronted with evidence she had gone to Fraserburgh at 2am.
Beck and Guntrip then returned to Beck’s house in Sandhaven later on December 22 2019, with her infant son becoming unresponsive soon after.
Olly-James was rushed by air ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he died later that day.
The court also heard evidence from forensic computer analyst Lee McBain, who managed to source a number of thumbnail images and a video from Beck’s mobile phone.
The images showed evidence of drug dealing being discussed and arranged.
It also showed a video of Kieran Sievwright involved in drug taking, which he claimed was filmed and photographed by Beck.
The trial, before Judge Fiona Tait, continues.
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